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Despite the urgency of the situation, the old woman’s tone remained calm. Her voice flowed smoothly with gentle highs and lows, as if she felt no sense of crisis at all.

Perhaps it was the sensitivity derived from the spirits. Since ancient times, messengers of gods and spirits inevitably came to resemble the beings they were connected to.

The nature of spirits was like that. They did not cling to any particular form but revealed themselves as they were, shaped by the natural accumulation of cause and effect. Since that was the essence of nature, spirits, as the personified touch of nature, also possessed such a nature.

Thus, spirits were not averse to their own transformation and change. Warmth, coolness, dryness, moisture, sudden volcanic eruptions, and the resulting weather anomalies—all were just aspects of the natural world.

High mountains, fault lines exposed by earthquakes, forests turned to ash by wildfires, landslides caused by heavy rains, fjords carved by glaciers, fertile black soil, and salt-ravaged barren lands—all were part of the natural world.

Who could define what nature should look like, and what could possibly halt the majestic changes of the natural world?

Sophia knew that what people often called the “capriciousness of spirits” stemmed from a misunderstanding of this.

Perhaps the spirit of this island also had no particular feelings about its own transformation. Nature, whether clean or tainted, was simply nature.

Only humans, among all beings, insisted on clinging to a specific original form.

“I greet the Paladin of the Church Order. I am Birgit Anika, the Spirit Priestess of Gotland, also known as Abelona Mertinger.”

“Thank you for your hospitality. I am Sophia de Chazel, the Sword of the Church.”

Thus, even if one resembled a spirit, being born as a human meant that one’s perspective would inevitably differ from that of a spirit.

“Let me be direct. Sir Chazel, would you please save this island and its people?”

Receiving the old woman’s calm yet desperate plea, Sophia accepted it with her usual composed demeanor.

“Set your worries aside, Mrs. Mertinger. I came here precisely for that purpose.”

When people gather and build their hopes on the land, it is called civilization. When one person embodies the will of many, overcoming hardships and charting a path forward, it is called a hero.

Of course, Sophia did not consider herself a hero, but she was more than ready to play the part for the sake of the people.

“I’ve thought about it on my way here. Seeing you now, I can see there’s a chance. Let’s give it a try.”

That was the identity Sophia had established for herself since defining herself as Sophia de Chazel in this world.

+++++

Gotland was a fairly large island in the Baltic Sea. It had wide plains suitable for farming and several settlements scattered across its terrain.

An island of this size naturally served as a core for maritime trade in the surrounding waters. Gotland’s geography, with its accommodating harbors, made it a valuable resting spot for ships traversing the Baltic Sea since ancient times.

Among the bustling port cities of Gotland, Visby, facing the Kingdom of Svea to the northwest, stood out.

Though now in decline due to advancements in navigation and the recent rampage of spirits turning it into a ghost town, the old streets and buildings still whispered of its former glory.

South of Visby’s old port city lay a high hill called “Roista Hill.” In an island devoid of mountains, this hill was the highest point.

Revering high places was an instinct passed down through generations. The island’s people were no different, having built an altar to the island’s governing spirit atop this hill.

Until now, the island’s spirit had always manifested at this altar, allowing communication between the spirit and the humans living on the land.

Though Roista Hill was the highest point on the island, it was not steep or difficult to climb like mountainous terrain. Instead, it was flat and gentle, allowing people to easily visit the altar.

The spirit had appointed Birgit Anika, the Spirit Priestess, as its messenger and interpreter, walking the land with those who came to seek it.

“Gentle, you say?”

Sophia chuckled as she looked up at the steep, towering snow-capped mountain before her. No matter where she looked, the gentle hill where people once walked comfortably was nowhere to be found.

In its place was only a steep, towering mountain that seemed to reject any human presence.

Everywhere she looked, there were icy, jagged cliffs and thick snowdrifts that made her doubt if she could even make her way through. The harsh landscape, where a single misstep could trigger an avalanche, made Sophia’s lips twitch involuntarily.

{This is how a spirit’s domain usually is.}

{Indeed, I recall that lands governed by great spirits were often like this.}

As Spirit Drayg-Haegis chimed in beside the bewildered Sophia, Spirit Lucas-Kukunis nodded in agreement.

Sophia, knowing a thing or two about spirits, roughly understood their meaning.

Originally, lands governed by spirits operated under different laws than secret realms or dungeons. If secret realms were shadows cast by the domain’s influence, dungeons were remnants of bygone eras emerging through the cracks of the current world’s crust.

And the lands where spirits resided were the primal touch of the earth, existing before the “crust of eras” and the “shadows of domains” covered them, redefined by the influence of “eras” and “domains.”

“But even so, I’ve rarely seen a great spirit exerting such influence over the land in territories under the Church’s influence.”

There were exceptions, like the sacred oak tree revered by the druids in the heart of Ogma’s Forest, but generally, great spirits did not actively interfere in territories under the Church’s influence.

Even that oak tree, despite its formidable power, mostly slept or tended to the forest’s flora and fauna, rarely meddling with the land’s terrain or climate. Clearly, there was a distinct difference.

{That’s because the crust of eras covering those areas is relatively stable. Spirits are more active where the crust is less mature. In places where the era has fully settled, the spirit’s activity naturally diminishes.}

“I see.”

Sophia nodded in understanding at Spirit Drayg-Haegis’s explanation, then suddenly tilted her head.

She understood that the spirit’s activity would be less in areas where the crust of eras had settled. The primal form of the world was the spirit’s true form, so a thick, well-settled crust would naturally reduce its activity.

But at present, in the continent known as Europa, the lands where the spirit’s activity was most diminished were those firmly under the Church’s influence. So, that meant…

{Yes. At present, the defining feature of this era in the land called Europa is likely the doctrine of light your Church follows.}

As Sophia listened to the spirit’s explanation, she hurried along the mountain path, searching for something, then suddenly stopped.

“Here it is. Gabrielle, could you help me a little?”

[……!]

As expected, responding to the nun knight’s call, a translucent, milky-white figure of a young girl appeared. It was none other than Sophia’s contracted spirit, Gabrielle.

With a lively response, Gabrielle, glowing brightly, embraced Sophia from behind. In the next moment, golden and jade-blue ripples emanated from the silhouettes of the contracted spirit and the nun knight.

With half-closed eyes, Sophia, draped in shimmering light, formed different hand seals with each hand.

In the next moment, a pale, thread-like substance tangled between Sophia’s hands, then extended its end toward somewhere.

Following the thread, Sophia began to walk, muttering as if sighing.

“Spirit domains are troublesome. Until they reveal themselves, detection is nearly impossible, and there’s no normal way to get close.”

{It’s quite the exaggeration coming from a spellcaster who can use druidic techniques in a spirit’s domain.}

Spirit Drayg-Haegis, seemingly exasperated, retorted, but Sophia’s frustration was genuine.

Normally, the initiative in the relationship between spirits and humans lay entirely with the spirits. Within a spirit’s domain, humans could not avoid meeting the spirit if it so desired, and conversely, if the spirit refused, there was no way for humans to meet.

Dominion over the environment was that mysterious and profound. Even with Sophia’s Qi Sense and consciousness, detecting a spirit’s presence was no simple task.

If she hadn’t discovered a blank zone formed by intersecting ley lines from different sources, Sophia would have been in serious trouble. Without the spirit’s whim to meet, she might have wandered aimlessly through the mountains.

Of course, now that she had found a narrow crevice barely wide enough for a person to stand, created a temporary “stable land” using the Light Power of the Immovable King Wisdom Technique, and used druidic techniques to track the spirit’s presence, it was all irrelevant.

{But where did you learn to use druidic techniques so readily?}

“Where else? My disciple is a druid, isn’t he? There’s no other source.”

{What? When did you learn that?}

Spirit Drayg-Haegis, baffled by Sophia’s nonchalant reply, asked. Having been by her side since the incident at the Plymouth Sky Dungeon, he had never seen her learn anything from Conra. But Sophia’s answer defied his expectations.

“Why bother learning it step by step? Just by watching, you can get the gist of it.”

And with that gist, she could improvise the details on the spot. The spirit, unable to hide his sour expression, fell silent.

Meanwhile, the pale thread summoned by the druidic spell, like a water snake swimming through the air, guided Sophia’s path.

The path was not straight. It zigzagged left and right, sometimes circling in place, tracing an unpredictable trajectory.

If others had been accompanying her, they might have been puzzled by the route. But Sophia followed the thread’s guidance without complaint. Though it might seem like meaningless back-and-forth, she knew it was the shortest path to the spirit.

After following the thread for a while, Sophia suddenly opened her eyes wide and spoke.

“Finally found it. Hiding in such a place?”

At last, the spirit’s presence registered in her Qi Sense and consciousness. Sensing that the spirit had noticed her, Sophia felt a sudden surge of natural energy and a distortion in the land’s accumulation.

“Trying to distance yourself from me? That won’t do.”

Now that she had pinpointed the spirit’s presence, simply trying to create distance was futile. With a short exhalation, Sophia’s figure stepped through space.

In the next moment, she appeared before a stone altar atop the mountain peak.

+++++

It was an ancient stone altar.

At the summit of the high mountain was a flat, open space, surrounded by circular stone arrangements similar to those Sophia had seen in the Tent Village.

It wasn’t exactly the same. The circular stones were arranged similarly, but the center was different. While the Tent Village had a large stone and a tent for the priestess, here the center held a flat, large rock on a raised earthen platform.

Unlike the relatively recent circular stones of the Tent Village, the structures here bore the marks of ancient times. They were cracked and worn, with patches of dark winter moss and dried grass that had sprouted from rock crevices only to die in the cold, swaying in the wind.

Yet, there was a strange dissonance around the altar.

The weather around the mountain was harsh, to say the least. Strong winds, hail, blizzards, and occasional lightning and thunder. Yet, the altar remained in a serene stillness. The wind, hail, blizzard, and thunder could not penetrate the altar’s domain.

It was likely due to the overwhelming presence of the being that resided on the ancient altar.

Confident of this, Sophia called out in a clear voice.

“<Spirit! A wandering knight has come! Please receive your guest according to ancient tradition!>”

The strange resonance of runic syllables echoed through the stillness, bouncing off the surrounding circular stones and reverberating.

In the midst of the echoing sound, a cool, sigh-like voice was heard.

<These days, even intruders are called guests, huh?>

No, could it even be called a voice?

The sound of a blizzard, the rustling of dry grass and branches, the footsteps of animals on the snow—all blended into a tone and cadence reminiscent of a human voice.

Along with scattered light, dry leaves rolling on the snow, and a squirrel darting away, various visual changes filled in the synesthetic imagery of the message.

It was a transcendent form of communication beyond human expression, different from the “heart language” that directly conveyed meaning.

But Sophia was not fazed. After all, the way spellcasters communicated with the world often mimicked such natural abilities. The runic syllables she had used to address the spirit and the druidic runes were fundamentally similar in effect.

Despite the spirit’s cold response, Sophia laughed heartily and continued the conversation with a relaxed attitude.

“Haha, isn’t a guest in ancient tradition just a wandering knight who visits uninvited? Nothing seems to have changed.”

<Indeed, swarming like insects and settling wherever you please has always been your human trait. Fine, I'll rephrase. According to ancient tradition, 'Gotland' welcomes its guest.>

The tone was almost rebuffing. As they conversed, Sophia thought to herself.

‘Certainly, this feels quite different from Mrs. Mertinger’s description.’

Initially, Mrs. Mertinger had described the spirit of Gotland as “a gentle being with the warmth of spring.” But the spirit’s reaction here was cold and prickly, mocking the intruder.

{So, this is how communication with a spirit feels? I could probably mimic this with swordsmanship.}

Leaving the inspired Spirit Lucas-Kukunis behind, Sophia focused her consciousness on the massive presence atop the altar.

The presence of a regional spirit was indeed peculiar. The land beneath her feet, the sky above, and the natural environment surrounding her since she arrived on the island all seemed to coalesce into a strange presence coiled atop the altar.

The familiar surroundings now felt like separate entities, creating a paradoxical sense of alienation. But what Sophia focused on was not that.

‘Originally, heaven and earth are unkind.’

This was one of the aphorisms known to Lee Beom-seok, Sophia’s past life, from an ancient text passed down in the East. The text, with its long history, had been read by many, debated, reinterpreted, and criticized.

Among the many aphorisms in the text, Sophia agreed with the sentiment of “heaven and earth are unkind” when it came to spirits.

Like heaven and earth, spirits were fundamentally unkind. They did not cling to any particular state or favor anyone. Sophia had always thought so. But observing the spirit of Gotland now, she had to correct her hasty prejudice.

‘In fact, they’re not entirely unkind.’

A fallacy of hasty generalization, perhaps? From a general, universal perspective, it was true that heaven and earth were unkind. Thus, heaven and earth, unbound by human will, naturally followed the logic of change.

But the problem lay in defining the scope of what “naturally” meant.

‘Excluding human existence from the natural world is also incorrect. If humans are part of nature, then human nature is also a natural element. Concluding that nature cannot embody human nature is a flawed deduction.’

All relationships involve mutual influence. All things change their state under environmental influence, but conversely, they also change the environment. Human hands cultivate civilization on nature’s foundation, and the Church’s influence replaces the lands once governed by spirits.

The state of Gotland’s spirit that Sophia discovered now was no different.

The ripples in the spirit’s consciousness Sophia read, the unnatural distortions on the surface—they were different from the pure ripples of a typical spirit.

‘Just as a priestess is influenced by the spirit when mediating between humans and spirits, the spirit is also influenced by the priestess.’

In a way, it was inevitable. Nature, not clinging to any specific state, easily changes under external influences. Thus, it was also inevitable that the spirit would be tainted by human nature through interaction with humans.

In a sense, the so-called “civilization” created by humans taming nature, and the role of the “priestess” mediating between humans and spirits, were both results of this.

‘All distinctions between self and other are created by the mind’s function, ultimately layered habits on an empty foundation. Then…’

Then, even if there was no basis for human nature to manifest in nature, the traces of humanity accumulated through interaction with the priestess could also be seen as part of nature’s inherent human nature.

‘This is worth pondering.’

The power of a superhuman is realized when a well-trained body, mind, and spirit align with proper knowledge. And the training of body, mind, and spirit, along with the acquisition of knowledge, is most effective when one’s understanding of oneself and the world deepens and broadens.

For Sophia, who sought to elevate her realm to prepare for the Great Demon, such topics were welcome.

‘No, this isn’t the important thing right now.’

Shaking off her deepening thoughts, Sophia refocused. What she needed to do now was not to seek enlightenment but to carefully observe the spirit’s state and solve the immediate problem.

As initially suspected, the spirit of Gotland was not pure. Despite its nature being inverted by the demons’ machinations, a part of its essence still bore the human traces accumulated through interaction with the priestess.

‘That part must be connected to Mrs. Mertinger.’

For Sophia, this was fortunate. If the spirit had been completely tainted by the demons, there would have been little she could do.

At best, she could have preemptively taken the Omphalos terminal to prevent the spirit from handing it over to the demons and arranged for the people of Gotland to migrate to another land using ships from the Kingdom of Dane.

But with such clear traces remaining, the situation was different.

‘Using the remaining part as an axis, we can reverse the rest.’

Even if nature has no preferences, the human part of the spirit interacting with the priestess undoubtedly has clear likes and dislikes. And likes and dislikes are often the clearest motivators for action. The best persuasion is making the other party agree of their own accord.

In Sophia’s mind, the plan to resolve the situation began to take shape.

Meanwhile, as Sophia focused on understanding the spirit, the spirit was also observing her.

 

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